Fees charged by banks on low value remittances - especially those from Pacific Island workers sending funds back to their families - are well in excess of "best practice" according to the World Bank. The World Bank said fees ranged from 15 to 50 per cent of funds sent to families,
Fairfax Media reported.
The bank says the international best practice is in the range of one to five per cent.
The nub of the problem appears to be the very low value of many remittances and the fixed fees charged by banks in Australia and New Zealand for overseas fund transfers.
The World Bank said it had taken the issue up at high level with representatives from ANZ, Westpac, MoneyGram, Visa International, AusAID, Reserve Bank of Fiji, Central Bank of Samoa, Central Bank of Tonga and the Reserve Banks of New Zealand and Australia.